


370/680

by carolc24



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Asshole Frisk, Frisk as the "player", Gen, Jerry is mentioned, Video Game Mechanics, based on this one time I fought papyrus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 03:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8041630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolc24/pseuds/carolc24
Summary: Frisk likes experimenting with monsters.  They test something during their fight with Papyrus.  It doesn't go quite how they wanted.





	370/680

Frisk has seen the same interactions, the same dialogue, so many times that they can recite it all to themself. They’ve tried making friends with everyone, killing everyone, killing only the bosses, killing only Jerry, sparing everyone except Asgore, and several more permutations of murder and mercy. New dialogue is rare and incredible; they can spend hours dwelling over the simplest of comments if it’s something they haven’t heard before.

But new dialogue is hard to come by now, so Frisk decides to focus on experimentation. They play the same scenes over and over again, studying monsters’ movements and changes in demeanor, recording the strength of their attacks, all to gain a better understanding of how monsters work. 

It’s tedious, but oddly fascinating; they know which monsters are effectively the strongest, despite what the handy CHECK function tells them. For example, while they originally thought Toriel and Asgore had the same defense, their attacks deal much more damage to Asgore than they do to Toriel when they use the same weapon. Monsters may call Asgore the “toughest monster”, but Frisk knows that this title actually belongs to Jerry. 

Run after run, they investigate new questions. What happens if they act cruel while refusing to kill anyone? Is it possible to collide with a magic bullet without taking any damage at all, or run out of HP outside of battle? Will they get new dialogue if they kill Sans and reload ten times in a row?

This time, they’re fighting Papyrus. The battle against Papyrus has always been intriguing to them. Papyrus always takes their HP into account when attacking them, making sure to be lenient when they’re weak and never deal mortal damage. His defenses can increase sometimes if his own HP is low, which Frisk hasn’t observed with any other monster except for Undyne. The dog that follows him around is safe to touch when it’s chewing on Papyrus’s special attack, but then joins his “REALLY COOL REGULAR ATTACK” and becomes dangerous.

Frisk has killed Papyrus at least twenty times now, as part of their experiments. They’re used to seeing his head fall to the ground, hearing his Hamlet reference, and finally watching him turn to dust. They remember feeling upset the first time they did it, a long time ago, but that feeling seems alien to them now.

What they want to know is: can they attack Papyrus while he’s sparing them, but not instantly kill him?

They know from the genocide run that they can do unbelievable amounts of damage if they put intent behind their attacks, and this is especially true when the monsters they’re attacking are unwilling to fight. But Frisk is only at LV 1 now, and they’ve been surprised before.

The battle itself is the same as ever. Frisk doesn’t bother flirting with Papyrus or insulting him, just immediately spares him and waits for him to turn their SOUL blue. The attacks are predictable and easy to dodge. They refrain from attacking until the end, hoping that they’ll increase their chances by attacking him at max HP.

Finally, Papyrus summons his last bone attack, panting slightly from the effort of using so much magic in one go. He makes his usual speech about granting Frisk pity (as if Frisk would ever be beaten by him!) and then it’s their turn.

They flex their gloved hand, testing its mobility. The Tough Glove seemed the best choice for this experiment, because while they could do a decent amount of damage if they punched the enemy several times in a row, a single punch would do much less damage than a whack with the stick they had when they fell.

They swing and deliberately miss. Papyrus watches them silently, his face as confident and cocky as ever. Frisk sometimes wonders if it’s uncomfortable to stand in that slouching position for so long, but that’s a question for another day.

They swing again, slowly, and tap Papyrus on the chest. One hit, as gentle as they can make it.

**-370**

He staggers backward, eyes bulging, arms waving like windmills trying to keep him from falling over. His health bar drains until he has a bit less than half his HP left.

The joy of confirming their theory washes over Frisk, and then subsides as Papyrus gets his footing back and assumes the exact same position as before. He doesn’t say a word, doesn’t betray any fear, just grins at them as if he hadn’t just been seriously wounded by the light tap of a child’s fist.

Frisk feels uncomfortable, then. They hadn’t thought much about how Papyrus might react if they succeeded in hurting him without killing him. They knew he was merciful to a fault, but even the most pathetic of enemies should at least acknowledge when they’re under attack, shouldn’t they?

It almost feels like he’s taunting them. Telling them that no matter how hard they try, they won’t squeeze any new dialogue options out of him. Reprimanding them for using him as an experimental subject, and punishing them by refusing to give them results. Maybe he’s picked up that mentality from Flowey.

Frisk doesn’t let themself dwell any more. They kill him quickly, take a brief moment to revel in the EXP they’ve gained, and then reload.

They’ll spare him this time around. Maybe that will make them feel less guilty.

**Author's Note:**

> So I've spent the last few months agonizing over Undertale's battle mechanics and such, especially in the Papyrus fight, and I ended up killing Papyrus a bunch of times and making myself even sadder about Papyrus than I already am.
> 
> I actually recorded this fight, which you can watch [here](https://youtu.be/Oe_iFpDrTaw?t=5m56s).
> 
> If you want to talk about Undertale theories or game mechanics or Papyrus angst or anything related to those things, my Tumblr is [here](http://uselessundertalefacts.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Happy 1st Anniversary to Undertale!


End file.
